Directed by George Sherman
Starring Guy Madison, Valerie French, Lorne Greene, Barry Atwater
Hollywood Scrapheap, which brings us hard-to-find old movies from about every genre you can think of, is now offering up The Hard Man (1957), a terrific little Columbia picture from George Sherman starring Guy Madison. And it’s widescreen! Screen caps on their web site look quite nice.
They’ve also added another Sherman/Madison gem to their roster, Reprisal! (1956). It’s full-frame instead of cropped for Henry Freulich’s original 1.85. Both of these are well worth seeking out, and until Columbia gets around to them, if they ever do, this is a great way to see ’em. Highly, highly recommended.
50 Westerns From The 50s. 
I won’t be buying any more DVDs from Hollywood Scrapheap. They always seem to have something wrong with the recording. The last one I bought, HOLD BACK THE NIGHT, had faulty sound. The sound kept cutting out every so many minutes, sometimes for only a few seconds and sometimes for as long as thirty seconds. It may have been recorded off air from a television that had bad reception where the sound kept cutting out.
I know the sound problem you refer to in that film, David – maybe it was the best (or only) print available though the picture quality is fine.
However, I have suffered no issues with other films from HS. The William Elliott films, in particular, are excellent quality, short of an “official” restored print. Where else will you find those films?
It seems like you have to take pot luck with HS transfers and hope that if you buy one of their DVDs it will be alright.
David ,you are right about his transfers.I bought a number of his DVDs and had to get a replacement for one ,but I played 2 of his DVDs yesterday and there was no problem .
I just watched MEANWHILE BACK AT THE RANCH ,a very cleverly put together of B western film clips ,mainly from the 30s ,40s and 50s .I had THE EARLY COWBOY COLLECTION Vol 1 by my side and could not see any of these films included .That’s not to say this is a bad compilation ,because I would highly recommend it .I would dearly love to see a similar version of MEANWHILE BACK AT THE RANCH ,only this time with films from the 50s ,60s and 70s with a sprinkling of 40s westerns,but it would never happen because of the legal matters involved ,but one can only imagine.
Two of my favorite westerns. “Reprisal” has a timeless message.
Indeed! It’s pretty obvious from this blog that George Sherman is one of my favorites, and Reprisal! is easily one of his best films. A perfect example of what a low-budget genre movie can be.
The ending was a surprising departure from what one might expect. The ending reminded me in a way of High Noon.
Speaking of Meanwhile Back At Ranch, I’d really love to see a compilation feature with all ’50’s and ’60’s TV westerns edited cleverly together. Seeing Lone Ranger, Matt Dillon, Palladin, the Loner and all the other greats all together would be a real fantasy trip!
I just asked WB Archive if they still planned to release BITTER CREEK .They replied that a remaster of this film in it’s proper OAR is still planned for the future but they could not give a time frame .Anyone know what OAR means?I figure it has something to do with ratio .
It stands for Original Aspect Ratio.
That will be worth waiting for as it is one of the best of that Wild Bill Elliott Monogram series.
Thanks for asking on behalf of the rest of us, Graham.
Jerry ,I also asked for more of Bill Elliot but got no reply, so maybe they don’t have the rights to anymore of his films.
Bitter Creek is one of the better ones. Hate that it’s the one that’s missing. Can’t wait to see it in widescreen.
Will we get any more remastered Randolph Scott titles in 2018?
As it’s now silly season and the releases are slowing down I was
delighted to see that in February next year Germany’s Spirit Media
(Black Hill Pictures) are releasing on Blu Ray possibly my “most wanted”
Western in high definition.
THE PROUD ONES is making it’s Worldwide Blu Ray debut and I simply
cannot wait.
Black Hill normally have super picture quality and very pocket friendly
prices. Sadly for American fans their Blu Ray’s are normally region B locked.
I’m gonna incur the wrath of many FWOTF regulars but I’ll take
THE PROUD ONES over RIO BRAVO any day of the week.
Black Hill’s recent MAN FROM THE ALAMO and TELL THEM WILLIE BOY
IS HERE were major upgrades over the DVD versions.
Even though I’m a big John Wayne and RIO BRAVO is one of his best ,I too like THE PROUD ONES better.I have the double sided DVD in Widescreen and Fullscreen. I just received CANNON FOR CORDOBA with George Peppard from Kino Lorber.
Not wanting to make comparisons but I think “THE PROUD ONES” is a terrific western too. Robert Ryan absolutely splendid, as always.
HS has an absolute stunning CATTLE EMPIRE (FOX 1958) starring JOEL McCREA. One of the best DVD transfers ever–IN CINEMASCOPE!!!